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Field Service : Improving Efficiency and Enabling a Better Customer Experience

Relatively speaking, field services receive lower levels of technology investment than other areas, often resulting in poor levels of performance and general inefficiency. However, by embracing mobile technology companies can transform field services and unlock significant benefits, which can vastly improve performance.

The most common challenges facing field services are:

Lengthy task time

Wastage

Lack of continuous improvement

Low first-time success rate

Repeat failures and a bloated resource model

These challenges all present opportunities to unlock capacity and reduce costs, while enhancing customer experience. Using mobile apps on smart devices, companies can seize the opportunity to transform field services in the following ways:

Locating the problem – Providing the engineer with an application on a smart device which can help guide them to the problem, reducing time and saving money

Accurate identification of equipment location – Many leading operators now utilize ‘augmented maps’ which show the location of key assets. Using augmented reality technology, engineers can overlay locations and key data onto the physical world. Greater accuracy of data can improve engineer productivity.

Real Time Inventory Updates – Using mobility technology, engineers can correct and update inventory errors in real time on their devices. Better inventory quality will positively impact job quality and significantly reduce re-plans and rework.

Smart logging – The cost of quality assurance can be extremely high. Building a record of the critical installation activity at source creates a far richer picture of the “as is built,” guaranteeing superior workmanship.

Collaborate – Smart devices have a collaborate feature that allows the remote agent to hear the person onsite. The smart device can also be used to see what is happening, serving as both “eyes and ears.” This enhances interaction between parties, aiding in quicker resolution times.

Navigate – When a field engineer has to visit multiple sites, it can be time-consuming to navigate to the relevant point of interest. Smarts devices can help engineers to successfully navigate on-site, displaying appropriate mapping data in a Google street-view form.

Survey – Capturing data on a site is largely a manual process, involving taking photos, sketching dimensions and writing up reports – all of which take time. Engineers can now use smart devices to record vital information relating to equipment location, power, cable runs and cooling and access points. This process not only creates a rich, detailed picture of the situation on-site, it also saves valuable time.

Improve Performance – Applying cost-effective and innovative technology helps to address the root causes of underperformance, in the process also unlocking capacity and reducing costs. Leading telecoms firms are adopting the potential of mobile technologies to address this issue, understanding that field services can significantly increase customer satisfaction. As companies invest in innovative solutions, they cannot overlook the value in improving customer service by providing engineers with the tools they need.

mWorkerCIS

mWorkerCIS is a mobile workforce data collection system which collects data from field employees’ mobile devices and automates reporting processes – both for management and for clients. A highly flexible system which can run on multiple devices, including tablets and smartphones, mWorkerCIS eliminates the wastage that goes hand-in-hand with paper-based systems and allows the user to make updates in real time on their devices. By creating a richly-detailed picture of ongoing projects, mWorkerCIS also improves your ability to keep clients informed of developments on-site in a timely and cost-effective manner; increasing customer satisfaction and raising overall efficiency. By unlocking the potential of smart devices in the reporting process, mWorkersCIS’ features help to save valuable time and costs, as well as enhancing interaction between workers, project managers and clients.